Thumb plier glove



March 17, 1970 A. B. MESZAROS 3,500,477

THUMB PLIER G'LQVE Filed Dec. 10, 1968 TIL CIA.

INVENTOR.

4aeer5 #5524203 United States Patent 3,500,477 THUlVlB PLIER GLOVE Albert B. Meszaros, 24 Eastern Ave., Ossining, N. 10562 Filed Dec. 10, 1968, Ser. No. 782,579

Int. Cl. A41d 19/00 US. Cl. 2161 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The thumb and index finger of the glove are provided with a ribbed insert which provides a gripping surface for engaging a nut or jar cap. In addition, the palm of the glove contains a flexible insert so that the glove can be formed into a hexagonal shape about plumbing fixture nuts for manual tightening or loosening of the nut.

This invention relates to a thumb plier glove. More particularly, this invention relates to a glove which can be manually used to tighten or loosen pipe nuts or caps on canning jars.

Heretofore, in order to mount or remove a cap on a canning jar, a housewife has usually tightened the cap manually. However, in many instances these canning jars have been hot due to the temperature of the contents of the jar. In these cases, the jars have been too hot to handle such that the housewife has required some protection for her hand. In some cases, a towel was wrapped around the canning jar while the cap was tightened. In other cases, a glove was used by the housewife in order to hold and tighten the cap. In this latter case, however, the gloves have usually been of the conventional type such that a gripping surface was not readily obtainable by the housewife. In some instances, this has resulted in slippage in tightening the cap onto the canning jars. Furthermore, the use of towels or the use of conventional gloves has been cumbersome.

Further, in those instances where mechanical devices have been used in order to facilitate manual tightening of caps on jars, such devices have usually not been suitable for loosening the caps. Also, such mechanical devices have usually been limited to use with only caps and have not been available for use in other household jobs such as for tightening or loosening of nuts on plumbing fixtures. For example, in some instances, such mechanical devices have been constructed such that application to a plumbing fixture nut would cause scoring of the surfaces of the nut and erosion of the cornered edges of the nut. Also, such mechanical devices have in many instances been cumbersome to use or position around a nut located in a hard-to-get-at-place, e.g., under a cabinet sink.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a glove which conforms to a threaded member which is to be threaded onto another threaded member.

It is another object of the invention to provide a glove which has a gripping surface for securing caps on jars.

It is another object of the invention to provide a glove which can be easily used to secure a cap to a canning 1 It is another object of the invention to provide a glove which can be used to tighten or loosen nuts in plumbing fixtures.

3,500,477 Patented Mar. 17, 1970 Briefly, this invention relates to a glove which is adapted to be worn over a users hand. The glove is constructed so that the thumb and index finger are provided with inserts, for example, of plastic material which contains rigid ribs so as to securely grip and turn threaded members. These ribs are positioned on the thumb and index finger in confronting relationship and extend transversely of the thumb and index finger. The ribs on the thumb extend from an axial plane passing vertically through the thumb approximately towards the outside of the thumb, while the ribs on the index finger extend from a similar axial plane passing vertically through the index finger approximately 120 to towards the outside of the index finger. The inserts can be of a single piece with suitable weakened joints to facilitate flexing, or of separate pieces. The placement of the inserts are such that a jar cap can be grasped in the usual manner with the thumb partially encircling the cap and the index finger partially bent at the diametric opposite side of the cap in gripping, plier-like fashion with the thumb. When so applied to a jar cap, the cap can be either tightened on to the jar or loosened from the jar in a relatively quick and easy fashion.

In addition, the glove contains a plastic insert across the palm of the glove. This plastic insert is substantially flexible so as to be bent with the glove upon application of the users hand about a nut of a plumbing fixture, for example, under a sink drain. The insert is adapted to conform to the hexagonal shape of such a nut in cooperation with the fingers on the glove. In this fashion, once the glove is applied around the nut, the thumb and forefinger provide gripping surfaces for turning the nut, while the remaining fingers and palm provide a further gripping surface for permitting a maximum of manual turning force or torque to be applied to the nut.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the fol1owing=detailed description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a glove of the invention on a users hand;

FIG. 2 illustrates a view from the palm side of the glove of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of the glove of the invention as applied around a nut of hexagonal shape; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a view of the glove of the invention as applied around a circular cap, for example, of a canning jar.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the glove 10, which is of a material such as a woven material, is sized to fit over a hand of a user and is provided with a thumb or stall 11 and an index finger or stall 12. The thumb 11 includes a flexible insert 13 which is secured, for example, by stitching to the material of the glove so as to permit flexing of the users thumb within the thumb 11 of the glove 10. The insert 13 is of any suitable plastic material or of a hard rubber material and is formed with a plurality of integral rigid ribs 14 which lie in parallel planes transversely of the thumb and extend along the thumb from a point near the distal end to a point near the other end. The index finger 12 is similarly provided with an insert 15 having ribs 16 which is of the same construction as the insert 13 in the thumb 11 which also extends from near the distal end to the opposite end. The ribs 14 in the thumb 11 are each disposed to extend from a point substantially from the mid-point of the thumb inside palm surface to a point on the side of the thumb, e.g., the insert ribs extend approximately 120 about the thumb. Similarly, the ribs 16 in the index finger 12 extend from a point approximately midway of the inner palm surface of the index finger to a point on the outside surface of the index finger, that is, approximately 120 to 150 about the index finger 12.

Referring to FIG. 2, the glove is further formed with an insert 17 of plastic or hard rubber which is adapted to be flexed upon flexing of the glove. This insert 17 cooperates with the three remaining fingers or stalls 18 of the glove 10 so as to envelopobjects which are gripped by the entire gloved surface of the users hand. To this end, the insert 17 extends substantially completely across the palm of the glove 10 and is of substantially rectangular configuration.

In order to permit flexing of the inserts 13, 15, 17, each insert is formed with a weakened joint 19 at points corresponding to the joints of the users hand. For example, the weakened joints 19 can be formed as a transverse groove. Alternatively, the inserts can be formed of sep aratepieces (not shown) spaced about the finger joints and the palm.

Referring to FIG. 3, in order to tighten a nut 20 on a threaded pipe 21, for example, a drain pipe of a sink, the glove 10 with the hand inside of it is wrapped around the nut 20 such that the thumb 11 and index finger 12 circumferentially envelop the nut 20 while conforming to the hexagonal shape of the nut 20. In this position, rigid ribs 14, 16 on the respective thumb and index finger abut the side walls of the nut 20. In addition, the remaining fingers 18 and the insert 17 in palm of the glove 10 also conform to and encircle the periphery of the nut 20, depending, of course, on whether or not the nut is of such an elongated length as to permit encirclement by the remaining fingers 18 and palm insert 17. Thereafter, the glove 10 is rotated in one of two directions to either loosen or tighten the nut 20 on the threaded pipe 21. In order to permit the use of the glove 10 for different sizes of nuts, the ribs 14, 16 adjacent the weakened joints 19 can be omitted to provide gaps between the otherwise uniformly spaced ribs.

Referring to FIG. 4, in order to tighten or loosen a circular cap 22 on a canning jar 23, the glove 10 with a users hand inside of it, is encircled around the cap 22 in a fashion such that the thumb 11 is disposed around one side of the cap 22 with the rigid ribs 14 abutting the peripheral side surface of the cap 22 while the index finger 12 is bent to engage the diametric side of the cap 22 so that a portion of the insert ribs 16 engages the surface of the cap 22. This is the usual position or loosening or tightening a circular cap on a jar. The glove 10 is then rotated either to loosen or tighten the cap on the jar 23.

The invention thus provides a glove which has plieror wrench-like characteristics in that the glove can be placed over a users hand so as to enable the users hand to act like a plier or wrench in tightening or loosening a threaded member onto another threaded member. The inserts which are positioned in the thumb and index linger of the glove provide gripping surfaces which not only securely engage the member to be threaded in a sesure manner but also provide a secure gripping surface iuringrotation of the threaded member. The glove, in addition to tightening caps on jars, such as household canning jars, can also be used to tighten or loosen nuts Er bolts in plumbing fixtures, as on a faucet on a sink drain It is noted that the glove can be made of any conven- :ional material, such as woven cotton, while the inserts :an be made of any suitable flexible plastic or rubber-like material wherein the ribs of these inserts are of substanzially rigid construction. Also, the gloves and ribs can be made integral with each other, as in the case of plastic gloves. In any event, the ribs are of a material and a size as to be substantially rigid while force is applied thereto upon loosening or tightening of a threaded member. However, the fingers or inserts which contain such ribs are sufiiciently flexible so as to. envelop threaded members, thereby permitting a rather easy method of loosening or tightening the threaded member.

It is further noted that the glove can also be made of a skeletonized structure. That is, the glove can be made with only a thumb and index finger portion with the remainder of the glove being formed by suitable straps for enveloping a hand.

It is further noted that by using a. glove of the invention with the inserts in the fingers of the glove and the palm, that the hands of the user are protected against detrimental effects from the heat of the contents of a jar, the scoring or scraping effect of trying to tighten or loosen a polygonal shaped threaded member, as well as the abrasive effect caused by attempts to loosen a threaded member which has been securely tightened under extreme force to another threaded member or by securing a large quantity of caps on jars.

Finally, it is noted that the glove can be used for different uses merely by turning the position of the glove relative to a threaded member to be turned. For example, the glove can be positioned on a jar cap with the fingers of the glove above the cap or positioned on a plumbing nut with the same fingers below the nut.

What is claimed is:

1. A glove for gripping and turning a threaded member on another threaded member having a flexible thumb stall, a flexible index finger stall, a first insert within said thumb stall extending from a point near thedistal end thereof to the opposite end of said thumb stall, a plurality of first upstanding longitudinally spaced rigid ribs on said first insert and extending transversely around a portion of said thumb stall, a second insert within said finger stall extending from a point near the distal end thereof to the opposite end of said finger stall, and a plurality of second upstanding longitudinally spaced rigid ribs on said second insert and extending transversely around a portion of saidfinger stall in confronting relationship to said ribs on said thumb stall whereby said ribs on said stalls are adapted to grip the exterior of the threaded member therebetween forturning of the member.

2. A glove as set forth in claim 1 wherein said inserts include at least one weakened joint at a point corresponding to the joint of a users finger disposed in said thumb and said index finger stalls.

3. A glove as set forth in claim 1 wherein said ribs are non-uniformly spaced on said inserts and thereby define gaps corresponding to the joints in a users fingers disposed in said stalls.

4. A glove as set forth in claim 1 further having a palm portion, three additional finger stalls, and a flexible palm insertv in said palm portion extending over a substantial portion thereof, wherein said palm insert and said three finger stalls define a polygonal shape upon enveloping said glove about a polygonal shaped member.

5. A glove for turning a threaded member on another threaded member having a flexible thumb stall, a flexible index finger stall, a plurality of rigid upstanding ribs on said thumb stall extending around the inside surface of said thumb stall transversely of said thumb stall, a plurality of rigid upstanding ribs on said index finger stall extending around the outside surface of said index finger stall in confronting relationship to said ribs on said thumb stall, a palm portion, three additional finger stalls and a flexible plastic palm insert in said palm portion extending over a substantial portion thereof, said palm insert having a groove substantially perpendicular to said three finger stalls providing a weakened joint to facilitate flexing of said palm insert whereby said palm insert and said three finger stalls define a polygonal shape upon enveloping said love about a polygonal shaped member while said rigid ribs grip the exterior of the member therebetween for turning of the member.

6. A glove as set forth in claim 5 wherein said ribs extend substantially one hundred twenty degrees around each said thumb stall and said index finger stall.

7. A glove as set forth in claim 6 wherein said ribs are of plastic material.

8. A glove as set forth in claim 5 wherein said palm insert has a smooth surface.

9. A glove as set forth in claim 5 wherein said rigid ribs are portions of flexible inserts respectively mounted in said thumb and index finger stalls, each said flexible insert extending from a point near the distal end of a respective said stall to the opposite end of each respective stall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner GEORGE V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner 

